Figures of Freedom

This programme is part of the festival Forum on European Culture, 17 – 20 September in Amsterdam.

In the Spanish exclave of Melilla on the North African coast, people are trying to climb over the meter-high fences every day – in search of a new home, a secure perspective. One man was captured on camera by photographer Santi Palacios and made famous as the ‘’Melila Mauerspringer”. He seems to be contemplating his situation on the top of a surveillance camera post. He seems to be above it all, literally on top of a border. By transforming the man into a sculpture, artist Sánchez Castillo addresses the issue of borders, of belonging and being excluded.

In the Spanish exclave of Melilla on the North African coast, people are trying to climb over the meter-high fences every day – in search of a new home, a secure perspective. One man was captured on camera by photographer Santi Palacios and made famous as the ‘’Melila Mauerspringer”. He seems to be contemplating his situation on the top of a surveillance camera post. He seems to be above it all, literally on top of a border. By transforming the man into a sculpture, artist Sánchez Castillo addresses the issue of borders, of belonging and being excluded.

The central figure in this exhibition is that of a man perched on a surveillance post, scanning a horizon of fences, barbed wire and collective dreams. Sánchez Castillo has formalized this image through a “Memorial”, made up of a sculpture that is multiplied in 1028 small figurines.